Core Glossary

translation_memory.json is the enforced glossary for every Phase 2 translation in this curriculum. This document summarizes its shape and the principles behind it; see the Glossary Risk Groups for the full per-term entries.

Composition

The glossary currently holds 47 terms spanning all four risk tiers, drawn from the doctrines identified in Doctrine Analysis and grounded in the cultural risks identified in Culture Analysis. Every term entry records:

• The approved Fulfulde translation and transliteration
• The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
• Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons
• Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice, including, distinctively for this Language Package, explicit flags where a rendering is a provisional descriptive compound pending theologian confirmation

Governing principles

1. Best-attested regional precedent, explicitly sourced — where existing Pular or Fulfulde New Testament translation work has a rendering (Joom, Alkawal, Yeesu), this glossary follows it, but always with a note on which regional tradition it draws from, since no single Fulfulde-wide precedent exists.
2. Plain descriptive compounds over invented neologisms — where no crystallized term exists (incarnation, justification, sanctification), this glossary prefers a transparent compound a reader can parse, flagged as provisional, over an opaque coinage that might be mistaken for an established term.
3. Deliberate avoidance of Islamic-title conflicts where a native alternative exists — nulaaɗo for “apostle” is chosen specifically because Fulfulde has a native root that avoids rasuulu’s association with Muhammad, unlike some other languages in this pipeline.
4. Version-controlled and append-only in Phase 2, with elevated review — if a new term is discovered during document translation, it is added to translation memory and the version number incremented, and — distinctively for this Language Package — flagged for both theologian and native-speaker review regardless of assigned risk tier, given the thinner starting base of established vocabulary.

Relationship to the Doctrine Risk Registry

Every glossary term’s doctrine field links back to an entry in doctrine_risk_registry.json, so a term’s risk tier is always traceable to the specific doctrine it protects — the glossary enforces vocabulary, the doctrine registry explains why that vocabulary matters, and for Fulfulde specifically, whether the underlying risk is Islamic theological contest, marabout/folk-Islamic syncretism, Pulaaku identity tension, or simple translation-infrastructure immaturity.